Anzhi have made several changes to their squad from last season, with several players having left over the summer in big money transfers.

“They are radically different from what Anzhi built in these past years. The changes are so radical and dramatic that you find it hard to recognise the team and the project they set out to do in the beginning,” said AVB.

Jan Vertonghen, Paulinho and Kyle Walker are among the players likely to be rested for the match.

The first two have been left back in London with Walker travelling to Russia with the rest of the squad, but unlikely to play.

“Kyle Walker has travelled, but we rested him for the game against Tromso. The logic is to rest these three players between these fixtures. Our strength in depth allows us to do that,” added the manager.

In other news, Tottenham are thought to be stepping up efforts to sign left-back Domenico Criscito from Zenit St Petersburg this January.

Spurs have been linked with numerous left-back options recently, including Southampton’s Luke Shaw, but Sport.ru suggests the North London club are going after one of Zenit’s main defenders.

The defender moved to Russian football back in 2011 and promptly won the league title with the club inside his first year.

Lewis Doe

Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.Lewis is HITC Sport's La Liga correspondent.